Titan

The Moon meets Saturn in the claws of the Scorpion

11 March 2015 Ade Ashford

The 20-day-old waning gibbous Moon has a close encounter with ringed planet Saturn in northern Scorpius in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, March 12th.

Life ‘not as we know it’ possible on Saturn’s moon Titan

1 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Liquid water is a requirement for life on Earth, but on much colder worlds life might exist beyond the bounds of water-based chemistry. Researchers at Cornell University offer a template for life that could thrive in the cryogenic seas of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

New imaging technique reveals Titan in unprecedented detail

13 February 2015 Astronomy Now

A new way to process radar data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft gives researchers much clearer and easier to interpret views of the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

Cassini catches Titan naked in the solar wind

30 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers analysing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft were able to study the effect of a powerful solar outburst on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, when it was unprotected from a raging stream of energetic solar particles.

10 years since we landed on Titan

14 January 2015 Keith Cooper

Ten years ago today, on 14 January 2005, a compact, flattened cylinder called Huygens, chock-full of sensors, cameras and scientific experiments, went hurtling through the orange skies of the mysterious moon Titan.

Dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan need firm winds to move

8 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Titan is the only planetary moon known to have fields of wind-blown dunes on its surface. Experiments with the high pressure wind tunnel at Arizona State University’s Planetary Aeolian Laboratory provide key data for understanding dunes on Saturn’s largest moon.

Cassini sounds the depths of Kraken Mare, Titan’s largest sea

10 November 2014 Ade Ashford

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provides scientists with further radar and spectoscopic data during its 21st August 2014 flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, revealing depths of Kraken Mare, Titan’s largest liquid methane sea, and further evidence of transient islands.